Ecology

Immagine

Taxi in Italy: why there is a problem with licenses and liberalization

In Italy the quantity of taxis available is not sufficient to satisfy customer demand during the busiest times: in Milan there is 38% probability that there are none available. In Rome the percentage rises to 44% and in Naples even at 47%, that is, almost one call in two receives no response. Wouldn’t it be enough to simply increase the ...

Immagine

December’s peak of shooting stars, the Geminids, is arriving: when and how to observe

Credits: Dai Jianfeng/IAU OAE, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. In the night between 13 and 14 Decemberlike every year, the meteor shower of Geminids – one of the most intense of the winter months – will reach its peak maximum peak intensity. So let’s keep our eyes on the sky to observe the shower of shooting stars in December, ...

fantozzi dare del lei

Why do you use “she” with people you don’t know?

We often use i courtesy pronouns“she” or “you”, when speaking to someone we don’t know, as a sign of respect and good manners. But where does the custom of calling “lei” and “voi” come from?? From far away, precisely from the times of the courtly culture ofEarly Middle Ages (around the 11th and 12th centuries), in which the “voi” was ...

santa lucia giorno piu corto che ci sia vero o falso

Why is it said that Saint Lucia is the shortest day there is? The real story

Within the Christian calendar, the December 13th is celebrated Saint Luciaprotector of sight due to her symbolism linked to light (“Lucia” derives from Latin lux“light”), which anticipates Christmas. The popular saying, so rooted as to stand above all empirical evidence “Saint Lucia is the shortest day there is” however, is scientifically inaccurate and depends first and foremost on having passed ...

Sistema-Solare

Solar System, which planets compose it and its characteristics

The Solar system is the set of celestial bodies that orbit the Sun: in addition to the planetary system with the 8 planets recognized by astronomers (divided into rocky and giant planets, including gas giants and icy giants) we also find dwarf planets such as Pluto, comets, asteroids and satellites, kept in orbit by the gravitational force of the Sun ...

Varare navi

Why does a bottle of champagne break on the hull when launching ships?

For launch ships you break a bottle of wine or champagne on the bow because the ritual is there modern version of one ceremony existing since ancient world. It must be considered that launching is the event with which the vessel is put into water for the first time and it is a solemn moment celebrated with sumptuous ceremonies, which ...

Dieta Mediterranea

The Mediterranean diet: what it is, what it consists of and what are the health benefits

There Mediterranean dieta nutritional model inspired by the diet of the countries in the Mediterranean basin, placed itself at the center of the attention of the medical debate on nutrition in the 1950s, thanks to the now famous “Seven Countries Study” by Ancel Keys. Today it is widely recognized for its benefits in prevention of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. It ...

papiro vs pergamena

Papyrus and parchment: what they are and what the differences are

In the centuries preceding the invention of paper, many writing supports were used, among which the most widely used are papyrus and the parchment. Sometimes these two terms are interchanged, but they are two completely different materials: papyrus (used above all in ancient Egypt) is in fact plant origin and it tends to be more delicate, while parchment (used for ...

informazioni DNA

Using DNA to store data? 1 gram can contain 215 million gigabytes: the study

As some studies conducted by some researchers of the Columbia University in 2017, in principle 1 single gram of DNA would be able to contain up to 215 petabytes of information, or 215 million gigabytes of information: an impressive capacity when compared to modern hard disks! Not only that, DNA, with its extraordinary density and resistance over time, could represent ...